Bumpers vs Frame which is better

[Rick TYler]

We practiced without bumpers, but added them for competition. They probably saved us any number of problems, including one match in which we nearly tipped over, but the bumper provided just enough width to allow us to rock back. We have a pretty low CG (it's one of the few really good things about our bot), but we tipped once in practice and nearly did (thank you, bumper) once in quals. Successful robots competed without them, but a lot of good bots used them.

The smart ticket would have been to use them as a stressed frame element, but we've already gone over that elsewhere...

[Kyle Love]

On the webcast I only noticed teams benefitting from bumpers. I saw some of them stay upright due mostly inpart to their bumpers. Sure, it will make it a bit harder to get up the ramp, but move the bumper up on the frame by a 1/2-3/4 inch and you will be good. (I would guess) Plus, they help keep your frame a little bit more beautiful for the pit and off-season demos.

[Steve Kaneb]

Team 190 chose not to use bumpers, and this turned out to be very advantageous. At the BAE regional, we were consistently able to maneuver around robots and through holes in defensive fronts. During our defensive period, we were often blocking 2 robots, and often kept these periods scoreless. This would not have been possible with bumpers because we relied on short, sharp shocks to robots to get them out of alignment. Despite the 15 pounds of stability advantage that bumpers afford, we never tipped and were frequently pushing bumpered robots around with ease.

Aside from that, we were thankful for not having bumpers because we often needed to check our chains on the driveline, our wheels and our spacers to make sure that it was all in order. Not having bumpers was also really helpful in the pits, because there wasn't extra room, and we keep most of our systems at bumper level.

Important items pertaining to our disuse of bumpers:
Almost all of our weight is wheel level. We're about 2-4 lbs. underweight, with a 6-wheel, one speed driveline.

Matching up against and with robots using bumpers, we noticed that there was a lot of trouble with the ramp and with defense. While the bumpers protected against collision effects, they got in the way of blocking, and often forced robots into misalignment.

[Dan Petrovic]

After the BAE Regional, I saw the Bumbers are far better than no bumpers. Reason being is that the bumpers increase your footprint so it saves you from tipping. We fell over a few times without bumpers and when we did they saved us from countless tips. They also prevent running over balls. Those balls are a pain when you start driving over them and around them.